Page 64 of Fae Devoted
“Johnnie, listen…”
He wouldn’t!
She whirled and ran toward the cabin, heart beating so hard and fast it battered her ribs. Dylan stayed close behind. A shifter male could have overtaken her with ease, but he let her run.
Was it already too late?
Sprinting around the corner and into Dylan’s front yard, she skidded to a stop. Jacob’s pickup was gone.
No. No. No.
She frantically reached for her bond with Jacob. If he hadn’t gotten too far away, the second Mark was stable enough that she should be able to—stunned disbelief and staggering hurt doubled her over at the waist as if sucker-punched. Jacob was now blocking the bond. As though his betrayal carried real weight, she placed her hands on her knees and tried to breathe through the pain squeezing her chest.
Dylan was next to her in an instant. “Johnnie, the beta—”
“Shut up.” She bared her teeth, struggling to draw in a breath while drowning in a sea of hurt. Dylan had been in on the deception, distracting her on purpose. But it was Jacob’s desertion that cut her to the quick.
Forcing her body upright and oxygen into her burning lungs, Johnnie stormed into the house. She went straight to her purse, rummaging inside the tote for her cellphone. It was gone, along with her tablet.
“Johnnie, let me explain.”
Shoving past Dylan, she ran into his bedroom, scouring it for his laptop. She ripped off the sheets, tossed the mattress, opened his drawers.Nothing.
She went to his closet next, yanking Dylan’s clothing off the hangers and checking every pocket for her missing phone. Climbing on his overturned hamper, she started opening the boxes on the top shelves.
“It’s not there, and my laptop is locked inside my Jeep.” Dylan stood in the doorway, his shoulder propped on the doorframe. His lips tilted in a poor imitation of his usual lopsided grin. “If you’re thinking of breaking into the old girl, you should know I changed the password on all my devices.”
“Do you still have my phone, or did Jacob take it with him?”
“I’m sorry, if you’d just let me—”
“Answer the question.”
“He took it.”
“And my tablet?”
He nodded.
I’m gonna kill him.
Johnnie swept Dylan’s collection of Cardinal baseball caps onto the closet floor with a frustrated scream before stepping off the makeshift stool. She had no way to contact Samuel. No way of petitioning Patriarch DuPont, Consort Olivia, or Mater Russo for their promised help. No means of getting ahold of her idiot mate and ordering him to return for herright this second.
No way to question why Jacob left without speaking with her first.
“Johnnie, please try to understand. The people after his—”
“Take me to the airport. We can catch up to Jacob if we leave now.”
“I can’t do that. I promised you’d stay here until I heard from either your Alpha or Beta Tucker.” His mouth flattened into a firm line, and steel resolve stamped his features. “I plan to keep that promise.”
“I see.” Straightening her spine, Johnnie calmly crossed the room. He wouldn’t relent. No Ferwyn male would if they genuinely believed a female was in danger of being harmed.
She stopped a few feet from where Dylan blocked the doorway. His eyes searched hers, seeking understanding? Acceptance? She jutted her chin, and his shoulders slumped, but he moved aside without further comment. What was left to say?
Entering the guest bedroom, Johnnie closed the door, the muscles of her arm taut with the effort not to slam it shut. She collapsed against the worn wood and clutched at the knob behind her, the smooth brass serving as an anchor to keep her from breaking apart or flying into a futile rage.
Before she could calm down long enough to form a plan, she spotted the square piece of paper waiting on her pillow. She shoved away from the door and strode to the bed, blood roaring in her ears as she reached for the note.
